


Found

by Lapis01



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Injury, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, War, Wartime Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:53:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25301902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lapis01/pseuds/Lapis01
Summary: Gaster had disappeared after a rather nasty battle against a group of humans. This terrified Grillby. Gaster was his best friend- his everything. So, he searches for Gaster any time he gets the chance.The day he finally finds his best friend, he is both relieved and horrified.In other words, a fic about Grillby finding Gaster after the Skeleton had been tortured for weeks by humans.
Relationships: W. D. Gaster & Grillby, W. D. Gaster/Grillby
Comments: 5
Kudos: 42





	1. Cracks

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so! Here's a basic explanation of Grillby and Gaster's relationship. The two met sometime early on during The Great War and have been inseparable ever since. 
> 
> Gaster's Font is not something people around him can understand, so he uses sign language to talk- which is where the ' comes in. Any time you see a piece of dialog written 'Like this', it means the speaker is signing.

His skull hurt. Why did his skull hurt? He tried to move, but red hot pain seared through his bones at the attempted motion. Something akin to a whimper left him as he tried to get his eye light to work. Gaster’s vision swam as his eye light finally flickered to life within his good eye socket. His hands hurt, but he couldn’t bring himself to look at them. He could already feel something off about them. They felt lighter than they had before. Why? Actually, it wasn't just his skull and hands that radiated pain- everything hurt. 

A ragged cough left the skeleton as blood dripped down from the side of his skull. Huh. Where was the blood coming from again? Gaster found he was having a hard time focusing on any coherent thought, though he suspected that had something to do with the blood on his skull. 

The realization that there weren’t any humans near him hit at some point, and he felt his bones behind to rattle. He was in a forest, but last he remembered… Wait, what did he last remember? Humans. That’s right. The human who had been interrogating him had hurt him, hadn’t they? Maybe that would explain the blood. His eye light was dim as he tried to remember all that had happened. ....He had been stuck in a camp with hostile humans as a prisoner for.. how long? He wasn't too sure. But, they had been attempting to interrogate him the entire time- which was futile, by the way. Gaster may not be the strongest soldier, but he knew how to keep his mouth shut.

Gaster’s mangled mess of coherent thought shattered as he saw a blurry light in the distance. It caught his attention, not because it was so out of place- but because it looked familiar. Why did it look familiar? Well, it definitely seemed to be moving closer. Maybe it was following a trail of blood? He had probably left a trail of blood.

Something wet dripped down from Gaster’s eye socket, which he initially assumed was blood. He was very surprised when he realized it was a tear drop. He must be crying, then. The light seemed much closer now. That was interesting. He did his best to keep his focus on it, but with his vision as blurry as it was, it was difficult to do.

Eventually, the light appeared right in front of him. It spoke, voice crackling with worry. Flaming hands reached out and gently took a hold of his shoulders. Now that the light was closer, Gaster could sort of distinguish its features. It looked so familiar, and he couldn’t figure out why, until-

“Grillby?”

His voice was a garbled mess. His Font combined with his pain made the sound far worse than usual. Uttering that single word was enough to force him into a painful wheezing fit. Gaster’s entire body shook as he leaned heavily into Grillby's arms. Gaster’s eye light became dim and only just visible as he tried to lift his hands; however, they hurt more than Gaster could have ever expected. They shook just as violently as the rest of him, but he couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong with them. Little did he know, there were perfect circles cut through both palms on each of his hands. A good sized crack running from his bad eye socket to the back of his skull stood starkly against the white of his skull and the red of the blood covering it.

Of course, Gaster couldn’t see this. He was having a hard enough time focusing on Grillby, with how scattered his thoughts were. He didn't have the attention span to figure out where all this blood was coming from. Eventually, his eye light flickered out for a short while before returning as dim as could be. He faintly registered the sound of his bones rattling as more tears dripped down his face. His fingers tried to sign his half formed thoughts, but his hands shook too badly for any of the motions to make sense.

Grillby held his wrists as gently as possible. Concern was written all over him as his flames flickered in greens. He had been searching for Gaster pretty much non-stop since losing the Skeleton, and now that he had finally found him? There was relief in his chest, but given the state Gaster was currently in, he feared the Skeleton didn't have much longer. 

"Gaster," Came Grillby's gentle voice. The Skeleton in question made a soft sound in response. "I'm going to pick you up. We need to get you to a healer." 

Gaster, once again, attempted to sign something, but Grillby couldn't understand any of the shaking movements. The Elemental blinked, thinking, before scooping Gaster into his arms as carefully as possible. He stood, gave their surroundings a quick glance around, then took off towards where he knew their platoon was set up. 

Gaster barely even registered the fact that he was being moved. Once Grillby started running, however, he let out a hiss of pain as his injuries flared to life at being jostled. He tried to curl into himself, but only succeeded in wedging himself closer to Grillby’s chest. He was tired. Really, really tired. Gaster stared up at Grillby’s face as he contemplated going to sleep. It sounded nice, if he was being honest with himself. Gaster was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t even realize he had moved one of his shaking and bloodied hands to touch Grillby’s face, much to the Elemental's surprise. It was around then that he decided that yes, it was time for a nap. Maybe sleep would make the pain go away. Gaster took his arm back and curled the bleeding, broken appendage against his chest as his eye light flickered out again. 

Grillby spared a quick glance down as Gaster let his hand drop. The fear that Gaster might not wake up wormed its way into Grillby's Soul, pushing the Elemental to run faster. Thanks to the Elemental's newfound speed and determination, the two soldiers made it back to camp much faster than Grillby had expected. The flame burst into camp, immediately shouting for help. Startled, a few men took in the bloodied Skeleton in Grillby's arms, then scampered off to find a healer. Grillby was gasped in a breath, the released it in a plum of smoke as he tried to catch his breath. Gaster was still asleep, though he seemed... weaker than before. Before Grillby had much time to dwell on it, two healers came to a stop in front of him. One was some sort of feline Monster, and the other was reptilian. 

"Shit, this looks bad," The feline swore, brow furrowed in worry. His partner nodded in agreement. "We can take him from here."

Grillby was reluctant to release his hold on Gaster, but knew he could do nothing to help the Skeleton at this point. So, he allowed the two healers to take him.

It was at that moment that Gaster finally woke back up, though his eye light didn’t immediately flicker on. Everything still hurt. The pain hadn’t gone away, though it had dulled slightly. He faintly recognized someone was touching him, but it only took him a moment to realize that the touch did not carry any sort of physical warmth.

This wasn’t Grillby.

His eye light flickered on, but all he could see was that disgusting human holding their knife as they moved closer to him. Gaster jerked away from the human, but he didn’t get far before his legs collapsed and he fell to the ground with a strangled yelp. Fear and hysteria wrapped around his Soul as he reached for his magic. The humans had tricked him. He had never left their camp. Grillby must have been an illusion- something the mages had conjured to get him to talk. In his terrified state, Gaster couldn’t see- couldn’t hear- the healers in front of him, pleading for him to calm down as the hallucination danced before his eye light. The telltale sounds of a Gaster Blaster being summoned hummed through the air as the skeletal beast slowly formed. It physically hurt to summon such a large being while he was so exhausted, but he had to get out. He needed to get somewhere safe.

Grillby, alarmed by the sudden surge of magic and intent as the Blasters formed, shouted for the healers to move. He rushed forwards, purposely diving into Gaster's line of sight. The Blaster wouldn't hurt him if his friend fired, so he cared little for any possible consiquences for his actions. 

"Gaster!" Grillby put his hands up and burned warmer, hoping the Skeleton would feel the heat and come back to him. "Gaster, It's me- it's Grillby! You're safe now! We're back in camp."

Gaster reacted to his friend's voice. His terrified features softened just the slightest, but the hulking beast behind him did not disappear. Not yet, at least. 

Grillby inched closer, flame flickering concerned greens and purples. "Gaster, I won't let anyone here hurt you. I promise."

Finally, Gaster's eye light brightened in recognition. "Grill...by...?" He stared at Grillby as more tears trickled from his eye sockets. The Blaster dispersed in a poof of white as Gaster fell forwards onto his hands. If Grillby thought the Skeleton's shaking was bad before, then he was in for a mighty surprise as the rattling of bones became louder. 

Grillby rushed forwards just as Gaster slumped in exhaustion. He was still conscious, but just barely. Fresh blood oozed from his aggravated wounds- which couldn't be good. Gaster let out a ragged cough, unbothered by the blood that dripped from his teeth. The healers, having realized Gaster was no longer a threat, moved in and gently pulled Gaster to his feet. They threw his arms over their shoulders, then began heading towards the healer tent. Of course, Gaster was less than happy to be separated from Grillby, but the Elemental made sure to keep up with the group, in case Gaster needed him.

Gaster tried to look down at his hands, but the healers seemed to be purposely hiding them from view. The entire situation was terrifying and all his garbled thoughts could think of was Grillby. Said Elemental was currently out of his line of sight, though he could still feel the comforting warmth of his flames.

They entered the tent. Gaster held his breath, eye light dim. He needed- wait. Oh, wow, his hands hurt. At some point, the healers had settled him on a cot. Just as they began treating him with green magic, he was out. 

Grillby stayed close, pacing nervously, as the healers worked. They attempted to get him to leave multiple times, but he refused. Gaster had been stuck in hostile territory- by himself- for just over a week. Grillby didn't want the Skeleton out of his sight.


	2. Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaster wakes up.

At some point, Grillby must have fallen asleep. He opened his eyes, immediately searching for Gaster. The Skeleton was still asleep on his cot, though there were now fresh bandages covering his right eye socket. Gaster had never been able to see out of the deformed eye socket anyway, so at least he wouldn't have to adjust to half of his sight being gone with the bandages covering it. A closer look at the Skeleton revealed bandages covering his hands, ribs, and left shoulder. Grillby stood from the floor, where he had been sleeping, apparently, and moved to sit on the edge of Gaster's cot. The soft in-hail and ex-hail that left his slumbering friend was comforting.

Eventually, Gaster stirred. He looked exhausted, but his eye light was brighter than it had been- which was a good sign. Said eye light focused on Grillby. Gaster let out a soft sigh of relief at the sight of the flame. The fear that being found was just a dream drifted away. 

Gaster managed to left his hands to sign, though it seemed to take a lot out of the Skeleton. He winced in pain as his hands moved rather sluggishly. "I missed you,' he signed, gaze soft. 

Grillby smiled warmly. "I missed you too," he replied. 

Content with this response, Gaster turned his attention to his hands. He stared at the bandages, confused. Curiosity immediately got the best of him, so he began picking at the wrappings. Grillby reached out and gently took the Skeleton's bony hands into his own to stop the action.

"You're not supposed to be doing that."

Gaster frowned in response, but accepted Grillby's words. The two sat in silence for a while as Gaster put his thoughts together. Grillby had almost fallen back asleep when Gaster suddenly tensed beside him. Concerned, the Elemental turned to look at his friend, only to find the Skeleton was staring, wide-eyed, at something nearby. Grillby followed his gaze and eventually spotted a soldier, who had just walked in, talking with one of the healers. Confusion blossomed in Grillby's chest, and it shone through in the color of his flames. 

Gaster was oblivious to Grillby's confusion. There was a sheathed knife resting against the solider’s leg. The Skeleton felt fear stab through his Soul at the sight of the weapon. He started trembling and it became hard to breath. Gaster’s hands were a flurry of motion as he repeated one word over and over again.

'Leave.'

His eye light was solely focused on the sheathed weapon as he wedged himself against Grillby’s side. The Elemental flickered worriedly at the repeated motions Gaster's hands were going through. Leave? But, they were safe. Despite Grillby's confusion, he helped his friend stand- much to one healer's annoyance ("What are you doing?! He needs to rest!" "I'm just taking him to get some fresh air")- and lead him outside to a secluded part of camp. 

As soon as that knife was out if his immediate vision, Gaster practically collapsed. His legs buckled underneath him, just as he let go of Grillby’s hand, so as not to take the elemental down with him, and he collapsed to the ground in a heap of shaking bones. This was pathetic, and he knew it. But, all Gaster could bring himself to do was rub at his eye socket as a tear dripped from it. ‘I’m sorry.’ Gaster stared at his shaking hands with something akin to hatred. 'This is stupid.’ a pitiful sob left him as he signed. ’I’m sorry.’

Grillby knelt down next to Gaster and placed a comforting hand on his friend's non-bandaged shoulder. He used his free hand to hold onto one of Gaster's bandaged ones. "If it's upsetting you, then it's not stupid," he assured him, gently. He was still confused as to what set Gaster off, but he assumed he would be getting an answer to that question soon enough.

’Sorry,’ Gaster signed again with his free hand. ‘I’m a pathetic mess. I saw a knife, and I just-’ he frowned as his eye light dimmed. He was exhausted. 'I freaked out.’

Grillby flickered a silent question. The knife had been what scared Gaster? The Elemental's eyes slowly moved towards the crack he knew was hidden beneath Gaster's bandages. He silently connected the pieces, anger immediately boiling up inside of him. What sort of sick freak would do that to someone?

Gaster had fallen silent as he composed himself. He managed to gently wiggled his hand from Grillby's grasp. He quietly picked at the bandages for a short while as he collected his thoughts. 'I’m going to unwrap one of these. I need to see what the huma-... What they did to my hands.’ He attempted to meet Grillby’s gaze. 'I’ll wrap it right back up, I promise.’

Grillby let out a soft sigh, gaze swiftly changing from anger to something softer. That's right.. Gaster had been far too out of it to have understood what had been wrong with him. It was only fair that the Skeleton got to see the damage that had been done. Besides, Grillby was curious as well. He hadn't been given much chance to inspect the bloodied hands while dashing back to camp. So, the Elemental gave Gaster a small nod. "Just be prepared for whatever you see, alright?"

Gaster slowly unwrapped the bandages and did his best to not further aggravate the wound. Finally, the last of the wrappings were pulled off to reveal the perfect, circular hole that had been cut into his hand. “Shit,” Gaster hissed out loud. It was too large of a wound to ever heal fully, and he knew it. Gaster hesitantly touched the hole with a finger and let out a hiss of pain. 

The entire palm of his hand was gone. How was he going to hold anything? He was supposed to be making this quick, but it was rather hard to stop looking at his sorry excuse for a hand. Gaster grabbed at Grillby’s arm with his still bandaged hand, acting as though it was a lifeline. “I’m useless without my hands,” He snarled, not bothering to care about the sound of his Font as fresh tears pricked at his eye sockets.

Grillby frowned, eyes taking in the hole in his friend's palm. He couldn't understand whatever it was that Gaster was saying. His anger from before resurfaced, but he managed to shove it down for the time being. Gaster was distressed. That was far more important than anything else. Grillby reached forwards once more and pulled Gaster into a hug. The Skeleton initially tensed, but slowly relaxed into the hug. 

They stayed like that for a while. Thankfully, if anyone else in camp had spotted them, they elected to stay away. 

A thought suddenly popped into Gaster's skull. He pushed gently against Grillby's chest until the Elemental let go. 'Grillby, my magic-' he signed quickly, eye light bright with fear. 

Grillby hushed him. "It still works. You summoned a Blaster when we first got back to camp." 

Gaster shook his head, though he seemed to regret that instantly, if his grimace was anything to go by. "No, no- my healing magic! It's in my hands. Let me see your arm.'

"Gaster, I don't think-" Grillby was cut off as Gaster grabbed his arm in pressed his non-bandaged hand against the limb. 

The Skeleton hissed in pain as Grillby's flames licked gently at his overly-sensitive wound, but he pressed on stubbornly. His eye sockets narrowed in concentration as he tried to summon forth his green magic; however, nothing happened. Gaster, desperate, pressed his hand more forcefully against Grillby's arm and tried again. When the results ended up being the same, Grillby gently pulled Gaster's hand away from his arm. 

"You're still healing," The Elemental insisted, voice gentle. "I'm sure it'll come back in time." 

Gaster deflated at that. He didn't believe a word of it, but his exhaustion had slammed into him full force. Grillby quietly re-wrapped the Skeleton's hand and allowed his friend to come to terms with everything. Shortly after he finished, he placed a hand on Gaster's shoulder. 

"I need to bring you back. The healers will chew my head off if I keep you out here any longer," Grillby said, apologetically. 

Gaster frowned at that. He didn't want to go back in there. Not with that soldier potentially still hanging around. 

"I'll stay with you, alright?"

At that, Gaster finally nodded. He allowed Grillby to help him stand, then help him back to the tent. That soldier was gone when they returned, much to Gaster's relief. He had nothing against the Monster, but the thought of knives made him incredibly nervous. As Grillby helped Gaster settle back down on his cot, a healer came over to check on them. Soon enough, they were left alone. 

'Grillby?' 

The Elemental in question tilted his head to show he was paying attention. 

'Thank you. For.. looking for me. And for saving me. I would have been dust if you hadn't found me,' Gaster signed. 

"You'd have done the same for me," Grillby assured him, a small smile on his face. 

With that, Gaster allowed himself to relax into his cot. His exhaustion took its toll, and he was out like a light within moments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot write endings for the life of me. Anyway, i hope you all enjoyed!


End file.
